Wavelength Festival of Music

Members of the Airborne Toxic Event perform at KROQ's annual Weenie Roast in Irvine. Photo by Noel Vasquez, Getty Images

Before ever taking in even one note of classical music, Pacific Symphony music director Carl St.Clair was into the rock music of the late '60s and early '70s: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Doors heavily influenced his youth. The death of Doors frontman Jim Morrison on July 3, 1971 – a date St.Clair has committed to memory – had a profound impact on the now 60-year-old conductor.

"I was very honest when I said that I had heard most of the great rock 'n' roll recording artists of that time before I heard the symphony orchestra, that wasn't just lip service," St.Clair says of his acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award at the 2013 OC Music Awards in March. Now, as St.Clair celebrates his 23rd season with Pacific Symphony, he's excited about the organization's latest musical exploration, the inaugural Wavelength Festival of Music, which will be held over four consecutive evenings, Aug. 22-25, at Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa.

The festival brings the symphonic world together with contemporary artists including blues singer-songwriter and recent Grammy Award-winner Bonnie Raitt, Los Angeles indie rock act the Airborne Toxic Event with local group Delta Spirit, an evening of electronic music curated and hosted by KCRW's music director Jason Bentley and, finally, the Music of Pink Floyd, a performance dedicated to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the English rock band's landmark album "The Dark Side of the Moon."

"I know I'm showing my age here, but when 'The Dark Side of the Moon' came out, that was one of most favorite musical moments back when I was at UT Austin," St.Clair says. "I remember how that changed everyone's idea of rock music and gave us a whole new sonic world."

Though St.Clair is looking forward to that particular symphonic-rock hybrid performance, he says he's equally as excited about kicking off the festival with Raitt, the daughter of the late Broadway star (and Orange County native) John Raitt. Though the symphony will not be joining her during her set, John Forsyte, president of the Pacific Symphony says he felt that her iconic music was essential to the event.

"She is so fresh and so current and her new album, I think, is really beautiful and she's an Orange County icon, through her father and her connections here," Forsyte says. "I really hope, frankly, that attendees go more than one night just to experience the diet of this musical feast."

Though the Pacific Symphony has teamed up in the past with artists such as soul singer Gladys Knight and former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung, Forsyte says that conversations about a full-fledged festival had been in the works for quite some time.

"We feel that for an orchestra that prides itself on its versatility and its adaptability – our musicians really respond to the challenge of trying to play in different styles – that it just seemed like a logical direction for us to head into," he adds. "For the first year especially, we felt that it would be interesting to be as eclectic as possible, mostly because we don't know if it will all work, but that's part of the pleasure of discovery and we're going to try some new things that have risk to them."

The festival is also an opportunity for Pacific Symphony to reach out to a younger generation of music fans as well. The Airborne Toxic Event, which broke into the mainstream indie rock scene with its hit "Sometime Around Midnight" in 2008, is known for its blend of rock music and orchestral arrangements and has performed full concerts with the L.A.-based Calder Quartet, the Louisville Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. When it joins the Pacific Symphony on Aug. 23, it will also have new music to share from its third album, "Such Hot Blood," which was released April 30.

St.Clair said that when he attended the 2013 OC Music Awards ceremony March 8 at City National Grove of Anaheim, he was blown away by the young artists – members of Irvine's breakthrough indie rock act Young the Giant and local scene newbies Nilu, who approached him to share that the Pacific Symphony, and he specifically, had made an impact on their music careers.

"I was so touched by all of that," St.Clair says. "Young the Giant were sitting at a table right in front of me and they wanted to have their picture taken with me after the show and they all expressed how important their classical training is to them and how important of a role model I had been. That's another example of how these worlds (of music) are merging."

"It's profoundly moving," Forsyte added about the in-person testimonials Pacific Symphony received during the awards ceremony. "It's refreshing for us to hear from pop musicians because you don't always think that they're that heavily influenced necessarily by symphonic music and, quite candidly, we don't have the commercial platform to be in the faces of the generation that's growing up right now.

"I hope that part of the outcome of the festival is that a new generation of audiences will say, 'Maybe I should check Pacific Symphony out at the concert hall' or 'Maybe I should investigate some classical music' and then realize that there's this great orchestra locally that offers something that's rich and diverse."

If the first year goes well, Forsyte says, there is a variety of acts he would like to team with for future festivals. Along with the main stage acts, Wavelength will also feature a concourse stage which will showcase various 2013 OC Music Awards-affiliated bands, local up-and-coming indie artists as well as individual Pacific Symphony musicians starting at 5:30 p.m., with the main performances beginning at 7 p.m. during each night of the festival.

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